A POP up café run by members of Stoke Climsland Church has gone from strength to strength since it first opened its doors 18 months ago.

Up to 60 people a week enjoy a selection of home-made cakes, quiches and sausage rolls produced by the volunteers and enjoy a steady supply of teas and coffees, all free of charge.

The idea came about when two women from a fellowship group within Stoke Climsland Church put forward the idea of a community café to priest in charge, the Rev Tony Stephens.

The idea followed to hold it within the village hall and not the church building, making it more accessible for the wider community.

The aim of the café is to support the community through the Christian faith.

Barbara Bennett, one of the organisers, said: “We don’t ‘pump’ Christianity at all, we just live it.”

Everything in the café is free of charge with donations welcome.

Barbara added: “If people give us a smile or £5 it doesn’t really matter, people donate what they wish or choose but you do in general find that people want to give.”

The café runs from 9am to 12.30pm every Tuesday, 52 weeks a year, with one recent week attracting 75 people. On arrival people are greeted with a handshake or a hug and a listening ear.

Barbara added: “Various people who come in regularly have said the feeling of friendliness and genuine warmth is very different to elsewhere.”

For the first six months the café was open it was usually members of the church attending. But gradually members of the wider community started popping in, including some students from nearby Duchy College, the local school and pre-school.

Now the café is running at a profit and the volunteers plan to donate the money to charity once they have reached a certain amount.

The café has also helped to grow the church with three new people joining the congregation. “Because they know a face when they come into the church it is not such a big step to make,” Barbara said.

They have also found that more people within the church are becoming actively involved than previously.

The members of the Stoke Climsland team are Barbara, Anne, Helen, Patsy, Diane, Chrys, Heather, Carol, Rosemarie, Pam and Jane. Barbara added that the team ‘all work so hard and it is due to their commitment and dedication, to say nothing of their faith, that the café is so amazingly successful. They deserve such a big thank you’.

Barbara’s advice to any churches thinking of running a pop up café is ‘do it!’

“It is jolly hard work and you do need the volunteers to be committed, reliable and willing but it is one of the most worthwhile outreaches that you can do. You’re not preaching Christianity you are just living it.”